The present invention relates to carts used in supermarkets and other retail stores. It is further directed to advertising panels which are to be retrofitted on existing shopping carts.
Carts having a frame and a basket used in supermarkets are commonplace. The shopping cart typically has a metal cart frame on which wheels are mounted. A basket is mounted on the cart frame and includes two side walls, a front wall, a back wall, and a bottom portion. The basket may be made from wires welded together to form a gridlike construction. Alternatively, the basket may be molded from plastic. The carts may be formed in various configurations including the standard configuration (see U.S. Pat. No. 3,999,774), jumbo or minicarts, over-the-counter carts (see U.S. Pat. No. 4,273,346) and scanner carts (see U.S. Pat. No. 4,650,199). These patents are all directed to carts having plastic baskets. Regardless of the type of cart and whether the basket is made plastic or wire, the basket is formed almost entirely of an open latticework construction.
The practice of fastening framed advertising panels to shopping carts is becoming widespread and can be a very effective advertising technique. Advertising panels are typically fastened to the outside and inside of the front wall of the shopping cart basket. These panels are used with either wire or plastic baskets. The advertising panels allow easy handling of the advertisement. With existing carts, only retrofitted framed advertising panels may be disposed on the carts. Also, panels may be disposed only on the front walls of the cart baskets because panels disposed on the side walls would prevent nesting of carts and would be damaged when attempting to nest carts together.
One known technique for retrofitting advertising panels onto shopping cart baskets is that of Actmedia Inc, wherein two separate advertising panels are mounted on either side of the front wall of the basket. The panels are attached to each other through the latticework of the front basket wall placing screws through holes in both advertising panels. Each advertising panel is formed of one piece of plastic and includes two elements, namely, a plate and a frame. The plate is rectangular and serves as the backing for the advertisement. The frame is also rectangular and is hingedly formed on the plate. The frame has tabs disposed on its top and side members which fit behind ridges disposed on the top and side peripheral walls of the plate. When the frame is snapped into the plate, the front surfaces of the frame are substantially flush with the protruding edges of the peripheral top, right and left walls of the plate.
However, this apparatus has many disadvantages. First, the frame must be hinged away from the plate to insert and remove advertisements. Additionally, the plastic hinges connecting the frame to the plate often deteriorate and break within a short time. This requires the replacement of the entire advertising panel. Because the frames are integrally formed as one piece with the plates, when the hinge or other components break, the entire panel must be replaced. Moreover, these advertising panels are formed with solid plates by injection molding plastic. As the plates cool, the plastic shrinks, causing the plate to warp. This occurs because the inner portion of the plate cools at a slower rate than the outer portion. Because high density polyethylene shrinks at least 0.20" per inch during cooling, a typical advertising panel would be 3/16 inch smaller after cooling. Slower cooling causes greater shrinkage. However, more rapid cooling on one side of the panel than on the other side causes stresses which further result in an inwardly concaving surface. The advertisement is less securely held within the panel when abutting a curved surface rather than a flat surface. This also detracts from the effectiveness of the advertisement as the concavity causes the advertisement to bow or reflect light and thereby be less readable.